Title:Colchicine: An Old Wine in a New Bottle?
Volume: 12
Issue: 1
Author(s): Francois Roubille, Ekaterini Kritikou, David Busseuil, Stephanie Barrere-Lemaire and Jean-Claude Tardif
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Colchicine, pericardial diseases, pericarditis, gout, tubulin, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases
Abstract: Although colchicine, a natural product, is one of the oldest drugs still currently available, its possible functions
seem to be surprisingly not well-known. Beyond its present medicinal use (gout, familial Mediterranean fever, Behcet’s
disease, chondrocalcinosis and other crystal arthritis), numerous other conditions have been recently proposed for the use
of this drug, including pericardial diseases. However, colchicine appears as a double-edged sword, with underestimated
toxicity and frequent side effects. In this review, we present the main pharmacologic features of this drug, with an emphasis
on toxicity and highlight its possible applications in the cardiovascular field.
